Avon 20 - Midsomer Norton 11 Holders Avon won the Worthingtons Bath Combination Vase for the third time in the past four years against a well drilled Midsomer Norton side who played a full part in an enthralling final on the Rec. It was Norton who made the most effective start with an early penalty from Adam Sinden, followed by an unconverted try from flanker Matthew Denning after a well worked backrow move from a short range scrum for an eight point lead after only ten minutes. Avon by contrast seemed slightly nervous and were confined to their own half by a mixture of committed Norton tackling and turnovers when trying to launch counter attacks from deep positions. After two uncharacteristic missed penalty attempts, prolific scrumhalf Sam Rowlands adjusted his radar and landed a magnificent penalty from the ten yard line to reduce the deficit. As Avon started to gain in confidence and string together some more fluid handling moves with Scott Book and Chris Sawyer to the fore, Norton were forced to concede further penalties and Rowlands took full advantage with another two successful kicks to give Avon a single point lead at half time. Avon exploded out of the blocks after the interval as Stuart Thompson made ground with an inside switch to give his forwards a target over the gain line before quickly recycled possession opened up the opportunity for Sam Rowlands to dummy his way over the tryline. Instead of building on the lead, some injuries seemed to interrupt Avon's rhythm and Norton responded strongly, cutting the arrears with a penalty from Martin Blackmore. Avon withstood this spell of pressure with some excellent defence well marshalled by Damien Sawyer, Nick Adams and Elliott Hayes before putting the game out of sight with another two penalties from Rowlands to complete the scoring. Team skipper Ben Dilloway, standing in for injured club captain Kai Harwood, collected the winners trophy to add to their fourth place in the Somers Back To News